Copy Cat

I work for a corporation. And sometimes when you work for a corporation someone else will steal/copy your work, ideas, and/or writing. We're having an open house for National Alpaca Farm Days. I wrote the advert. This was difficult for me as most of my writing experience is technical. I thought it was decent and apparently another alpaca owner did as well. Imagine my surprise when I saw my very own words used to advertise another farm's open house!

Here's what I wrote (if you double click on the image will open up a larger version that's easier to read):

"In honor of National Alpaca Farm Days, Big River Alpacas along with Mariposa Farms will be holding an open house. You'll be able to get up close and personal with our alpacas. You'll be able to pet and feed the alpacas, and we'll have answers to all of your burning alpaca questions. Fleece & alpaca products will be available for sale as well. There will be a spinning demo and free alpaca beans if you need compost for your garden this fall. (please bring a container if you'd like to take some with you)"

And here's what Copy Cat Alpaca Farm wrote:


"In honor of National Alpaca Farm Days, (Xxxxx Xxxxx) Farm will be holding an open house on Saturday, September 26th from 9am-4pm. Get up close and personal with our alpacas. You'll be able to pet and feed the alpacas, and we'll have answers to all of your burning alpaca questions. There will be a spinning demo and free alpaca beans if you need compost for your garden this fall. Please bring a container if you'd like to take some with you. "

What interesting is that Copy Cat Alpaca Farm has a copyright protection notice on their website so I'm pretty sure that they know plagiarism is a no-no. I've emailed this farm as well as left messages on their voicemail and I haven't received a response as to why they thought this was okay. According to the Copyright Website (notice how I give credit to the source as well as provide a link to the website) "almost everything on the Net is protected by copyright law."

I have to say that I am highly disappointed as this farm is located in Missouri and I will likely see them at seminars and shows.

PS. If you like the advert and need one of you own, I'd be happy to write one for you.